British & Irish Lions First Test

Well, Fiona, if the Lions do triumph on Saturday, then you know what good ol' Clive will say - that the reason the Lions lost the first Test was not because they were shit, but because the All Blacks screwed them up.

They were much improved from the side which was well beaten in the first Test but, after living with the hosts for the first half, they were blown away after the break.

All Blacks fly-half Carter produced a marvellous all-round display and he was amply rewarded with 23 points from the boot to add to his brace of tries.

The visitors made a dream start and after a couple of probing attacks new captain Thomas strode through an enormous gap around the fringes of a ruck to cross under the posts.

Wilkinson was never going to miss and his conversion put the Lions 7-0 up after just two minutes.

Within a minute Dwayne Peel sniped round the fringes of a ruck once again and scampered to halfway before being held, but the Lions kept the pressure on and were awarded a penalty, only for Wilkinson to hit the post.

The Lions won the ball back in prime attacking position but Paul O'Connell came flying into the ruck and conceded a stupid penalty, halting the Lions' momentum.

The All Blacks got on the board through two Carter penalties and the fly-half then engineered a marvellous try.

When Thomas dropped a pass Umaga fed Carter and the fly-half shrugged off Gavin Henson before racing 50 yards and returning the ball to Umaga.

The All Blacks captain crossed near the posts and Carter converted to push the hosts into the lead after 18 minutes.

Wilkinson cut the gap with his first penalty eight minutes later but straight from the re-start the Lions conceded a penalty and Carter restored the gap.

Wilkinson, who had just missed a drop goal, again trimmed the gap to three points with his second penalty before the All Blacks scored a sparkling try.

After winning a scrum five yards out from the Lions line, they spun the ball across the width of the field and Sitiveni Sivivatu confirmed his try-scoring ability by blasting over from 10m for an unconverted score.

The hosts led 21-13 at the break and within five minutes of the re-start Carter had all but extinguished the Lions' hopes.

First he landed a penalty and then crossed for a marvellous solo try, which he converted from the right touchline.

The Lions went back on the attack but after twice spurning kickable penalties they came away from a 10-minute period of pressure with nothing.

Things went from bad from worse for the tourists as Wilkinson was helped off with what looked like a recurrence of his long-term "stinger" injuries just before the hour mark.

Carter added a penalty to make it 34-13 and, although the Lions managed their second try through Ireland flanker Easterby, the rest of the game was an All Blacks showcase.

They added two further tries as first Carter danced through for another magical try before McCaw powered over for a short-range effort after Carter had been denied a hat-trick by a matter of inches.

The fly-half slotted both conversions as New Zealand wrapped up the series in dazzling style with one game, in Auckland next week, still to be played.

Carter is the man!! Too bad he's not in the last test. Saw tons of Balmy Army in their campervans going from Taupo to Napier on Thursday for the game in Wellington. And I love the telecom ads, especially the one with the single Lions fan with the kiwis behind him wearing the gas masks "And they are not afraid to use gas" **FAAART**.

The All Blacks were superb yesterday. After watching SA and Aus in the last couple of weeks, looks like the southern hemisphere teams are back at the top of the tree. The next Tri-Nations series should be a bit special. NZ are looking like they can beat anyone at the moment though.

Well, it was a complete whitewash. If anyone had any doubts about the All Blacks (not that there should be any in the first place), this is as good a confirmation as any of their prowess! Fiona will be happy with the result.

All Blacks seal Lions whitewash

New Zealand 38-19 Lions

The Lions suffered their first whitewash for 22 years as New Zealand completed a 3-0 series win in Auckland.

The Lions, strong up front but ponderous behind the scrum, went in 24-12 down despite Umaga's sin-binning.

But the NZ captain bagged his second after the break and Gear scored late on following Lewis Moody's consolation.

Sir Clive Woodward's side ended their tour with seven wins in 11 games but lost to the NZ Maori and were well beaten in all three Tests.

The 21-3 victory in Christchurch and 48-18 thumping in Wellington helped the All Blacks outscore the Lions 107 points to 40 in the series - a record total - and by 12 tries to three.

New Zealand have now not lost at Eden Park since defeat to France in 1994.

After an impeccably-observed minute's silence for the London bombings, the Lions actually scored first with a Stephen Jones penalty after three minutes.

And matching their bright opening in the second Test, they should have opened their try account after seven minutes.

A searing Josh Lewsey break down the left touchline, and a powerful run from Gethin Jenkins set up a promising position but Irish lock Donncha O'Callaghan spurned a clear three-man overlap to his right.

The Lions earned an easy three points though, kicked by Jones, after Umaga was sin-binned for deliberately lying on the ball to slow down possession.

But the All Blacks immediately hit back harder as if nothing had happened.

A surge from number eight Sione Lauaki fed Smith, who beat Geordan Murphy and Mark Cueto to romp home under the posts, converted easily by McAlister, an able deputy for the injured Daniel Carter.

[quote=summer910]Well, it was a complete whitewash. If anyone had any doubts about the All Blacks (not that there should be any in the first place), this is as good a confirmation as any of their prowess! Fiona will be happy with the result.

Yes, very pleased once again.. had a few out with injury & think the replacements played well, what did you think of 'Lucky Luke' watch him, he's gonna be a very good footballer

Apart from the rugby, we loved having the Irish, Welsh, Scots & English supporters down here in NZ over the last couple of months. The support they gave their team was fabulous & to be commended, they never behaved badly over the losses (maybe there were'nt many English here ), just kept on trying to drink the pubs dry.. (not an easy feat here in NZ & I don't think it happened anywhere)

They really got around the country & seemed to love every minute of it, they are welcome back anytime